The San Francisco 49ers lost their 13th consecutive game on Sunday, this time getting crushed by the Atlanta Falcons 41-13.
Regardless of who deserves the most blame, a losing streak like the 49ers are mired in puts everyone in the organization on the hot seat, including first year head coach Chip Kelly. Firing Kelly after one season would be a rash decision according to former Super Bowl winning 49ers defensive back and current analyst Merton Hanks, however, who believes that axing first-year coaches in consecutive years would furthur soil the team’s reputation around the league, especially considering the lack of talent on the roster.
“You have a problem the average fan may not really appreciate, and quite frankly may not care, but you don’t want to be known in NFL circles as an organization that has a quick trigger on their head coach,” Hanks said. “Because quite frankly, qualified coaches won’t consider your franchise for employment. Nobody wants to go to a place understanding that the ownership has a quick temper. They want to go to a place where ownership is at least patient, and will give you a full opportunity to perform.”
“I think that Chip Kelly has played with not a full deck this year. We all can agree that whether it be due to injury, retirement, what have you, that he didn’t have a full compliment of players to perform with this year and really it’s just kind’ve coaching to field gaps and try to put out a credible product on game day.”
The 49ers fired Jim Tomsula at the end of the 2015 season, his first after replacing Jim Harbaugh, who himself was fired after an 8-8 season, and three consecutive NFC title games. San Francisco’s reputation has already taken a significant hit because of those decisions, and Hanks believes firing Kelly would only make things worse.
“The Chip Kelly question to me is a bit trickier,” Hanks concluded. “We just came off of Jim Tomsula, we would be going on our third head coach in basically a four year period if that were to occur. That’s not a recipe for continuity, that’s not a recipe for having a solid reputation within the NFL circle of giving your coaches a legitimate chance to win.”
Listen to the full interview below.